Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will oppose President Donald Trump's nominee for a position as a federal judge in the Eastern District of Missouri, Sarah Pitlyk, over "her lack of trial experience," Politico reports.
Collins told Politico in a statement that Pitlyk's "lack of trial experience would make it difficult for her to transition to a district court judgeship."
The senator also mentioned a brief that Pitlyk co-wrote for an anti-abortion law firm in 2017, which stated that surrogacy causes the "diminished respect for motherhood and the unique mother-child bond; exploitation of women; commodification of gestation and of children themselves; and weakening of appropriate social mores against eugenic abortion."
Collins said that although Pitlyk is entitled to hold her own views on abortion, she was concerned, "given her pattern of strident advocacy, whether she could put aside her personal views on these matters."
The senator previously opposed several recent judicial nominees: Steven Menashi's nomination to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Howard Nielson for the District of Utah, Chad Readler's nomination to the 6th Circuit, Jeffrey Brown for the Southern District of Texas, and Matthew Kacsmaryk for the Northern District of Texas.
Politico notes that all of those nominees were confirmed by the Senate.
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